Lot 570: John Everett Millais

Lot 570: Noted English painter and illustrator (1829–1896). ALS, three pages on two adjoining sheets, 4.5 x 7, June 5, 1861. Letter to Alfred Lord Tennyson. In part: "In looking over some very beautiful unpublished wood engravings from Birket Foster it occurred to me how valuable it would be if they could be published with some half dozen descriptive lines of yours…The illustrations are certainly the very best rendering of English landscape in engraving I have seen…worthy of something better than a hodgepodge of poets…I should have sent you the drawings of Mrs. Tennyson." In fine condition, with central horizontal and vertical folds, and a small separation to hinge. Tennyson declined and Tom Taylor wrote the text for Myles Birket Foster's distinguished publication entitled Pictures of English Landscape in 1863. The book was bound in an elaborate casing by Owen Jones and presented to the public as a gift-book to be enjoyed by the fireside over the festive season. A fantastic letter connecting these several prominent 19th–century British artists.
RR Auction's Fine Autographs and Artifacts Auction 462
Wednesday, 14th October 2015
Estimate: $800-1000